Showing posts with label 1924. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 1924. Show all posts
Thursday, November 20, 2025
Houdini in new Ryman Auditorium exhibit
The Ryman Auditorium in Nashville has a new exhibit, "Unexpected Company," showcasing famous names who have appeared at the historic venue. Houdini appeared at the Ryman with his spiritualism lecture on March 11, 1924, and a pair of handcuffs he is said to have used are part of the display.
“Unexpected Company” is now open as part of the Ryman’s daytime tour experience. Tickets and tour information are available at Ryman.com/Tours.
Friday, September 26, 2025
Houdini and the Rio's (attempted) silent movie revival
In 1954, the Rio Theatre in San Francisco converted to an all-silent cinema, banking on nostalgia for the old classics in an era of Cinemascope and 3D. The article below, which appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle on New Year's Day, laid out the plan.
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| San Francisco Chronicle, Jan. 1, 1954. |
While not mentioned in the above article, Houdini was an integral part of the Rio's slate. A new episode of The Master Mystery would play before each new feature. Interestingly, Paramount's biopic Houdini (1953) was still playing in theaters, and could be seen at the Roxie on 16th and Valencia at this same time.
The Rio's first offering was the 1923 Lon Chaney classic The Hunchback of Notre Dame, along with episode 1 of The Master Mystery. A Universal Monster and Houdini? I would have been there in a second!
This wasn't the only time Houdini and The Hunchback of Notre Dame played in proximity. The below is from Waco, Texas, when Houdini was on his spiritualism lecture tour in 1924. Did Houdini ever see the movie, I wonder?
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| The Waco Times Herald, Oct. 8, 1924. |
Week 2 featured Orchids & Ermine (1927) with the great Colleen Moore, the 1912 short The New York Hat with Mary Pickford and Lionel Barrymore, and The Mystery Mystery episode 2.
Week 3 featured the Wallace Beery comedy Behind the Front (1926), the Harry Langdon short Soldier Man, and episode 3 of The Master Mystery.
The 4th week features "Anatole France's Classic" Crainquebille (1922) and D.W. Griffith's Judith of Bethulia (1914). Despite an earlier newspaper report that The Master Mystery episode 4 would be part of the program, it is not included in the opening-day advertisement. Possibly it was dropped due to the length of the features.
The Rio's next feature would have been the Clara Bow comedy drama Dancing Mothers (1926), along with Laurel and Hardy's Criminals at Large (1929) and The Master Mystery. A newspaper reported it would be episode 4, offering further evidence that it had been dropped the previous week.
However, a slate of "Disney's True-Life Adventure" films opened at the Rio instead. The San Francisco Call reported the change.
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| The San Francisco Call Bulletin, Jan. 23, 1954 |
The mention of TV may be telling. In mid-January, local San Francisco television station KRON purchased a package of silents and began running its own series of silents as part of its late-night programming. Among their films were The Headless Horseman (1922) with Will Rogers, The Primrose Path (1925) with Clara Bow, and, yes, The Man From Beyond (1922) with you-know-who!
I wonder what print of The Master Mystery the Rio was showing? It could have been the complete 16mm print owned by John Hampton of the Silent Movie Theater in Los Angeles, which was going strong at this time. Perhaps the two theaters worked out an agreement to share films. Finally, how disappointing must it have been to Houdini fans to have the Rio pull the plug after only three (or four) episodes?
In the 1960s, the Rio became the Toho Rio and screened Japanese films. It was then acquired by United Artists and was known as the Metro II in the 1970s. In 1982, it briefly became the Rio again, before being sold and renamed the Mercury Theatre. It screened foreign films until its closure in 1986. It was demolished in 1990.
Below are more appearances of Houdini's movies in revival houses.
UPDATE: Here's a fun update. Our good friend Diego Domingo performed a special Halloween magic show at the Rio when it was the Metro II in 1970. In fact, Diego had pitched the idea of showing his 16mm print of The Man From Beyond to them, but the theater opted for a horror film instead.
Friday, July 18, 2025
The Ruratania Mystery
I have a theory. “Ruritania” is the name of the fictional European nation featured in the famous novel The Prisoner of Zenda. A film adaptation of the novel was a hit for MGM during Houdini’s production year. So was using Ruratania (slight change in spelling) an inside joke? Maybe!
However, I was recently reading the Sherlock Holmes story, "The Adventure of the Illustrious Client," and was surprised to read this:
It was simply that among the passengers on the Cunard boat Ruritania, starting from Liverpool on Friday, was the Baron Adelbert Gruner, who had some important financial business to settle in the States.
Another reference to a ship called Ruritania! The story identifies it as a Cunard liner, so I checked the listing of all Cunard's ships, and there is no Ruritania or Ruratania. So I still believe a ship with this name never existed.
"The Adventure of the Illustrious Client" was first published in Collier's magazine in 1924. The Prisoner of Zenda novel was published in 1895 and would have been known to Doyle. So is Doyle making the same inside joke that Houdini makes 29 years later?
It's also possible that both Doyle and the Houdini filmmakers were simply modifying the familiar name of Muratania (a very real ship), and it's just a coincidence that they both landed on Ruritania. OR could Houdini screenwriter Philip Yordan have been a Sherlockian, and the joke in Houdini is actually a nod to "The Adventure of the Illustrious Client,” which in itself is a nod to Zenda? Now my head hurts.
I own the two major annotated volumes of the complete Holmes stories, The Annotated Sherlock Holmes by William S. Baring-Gould and The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes by Leslie Klinger, and neither makes any reference to Doyle's use of Ruritania.
This might be a case for Sherlock Holmes!
Wednesday, January 15, 2025
The Haunted Mystery of Waterbury's Palace Theatre
Here is a very well-researched video from Dr. Daryn Reyman-Lock at the Barnum Museum exploring the story of Shirley the Elephant and Houdini's connection to the Palace Theater in Waterbury, Connecticut. I'll let you discover it yourself by clicking below.
Be sure to give the video a Like. For more, check out the Barnum Museum on YouTube and its official website. After all, Houdini was an admirer of Barnum!
Sunday, December 1, 2024
Houdini's grand finale at the Bardavon
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| Billboard Dec. 28 1924. |
The Bardavon was named for William Shakespeare (the Bard of Avon). In 1924, the theater played a mix of vaudeville, silent movies, and stage plays. The theatre survived the wrecking ball in the 1970s and still stands today as a popular live performance venue. According to its history page, the Bardavon holds the distinction of being the oldest continuously operating theater in New York State and one of the oldest in the entire country.
Houdini's 1924 lecture tours covered almost 12,000 miles. Surprisingly, these tours barely warrant a mention in most Houdini biographies. But they were filled with interesting stories and took him to many places where he had never appeared before, and Houdini was very proud of his work.
Want more? You see all the stops on Houdini's tours as a member of my Patreon below. Heads up that this is the last day of my Black Friday sale, offering 10% off all new memberships with the promo code BESS.
Friday, October 18, 2024
Houdini's Ku Klux Klan encounter
However, this was not a Ku Klux Klan event. While the auditorium bore the Klan's name and held Klan gatherings, it also served as a general civic auditorium for Fort Worth. The 2000-seat theater saw many varied events, including a concert by the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. It was also where the Lyceum circuit booked their lecturers, so...
If Houdini had any reservations about appearing at an auditorium bearing the name of the Ku Klux Klan, he never voiced them, as far as I know. But some citizens of Fort Worth voiced theirs. Just three weeks after Houdini's appearance, the auditorium was destroyed in a bombing.
Want more? I've uploaded a collection of clippings related to Houdini's infamous Klan auditorium lecture, including the full Star-Telegram review, for my "Scholar" patrons below.
The lecture that night proved to be one of Houdini's more combative. He was confronted by a medium named Howard Whitesides, who had failed to produce spirit photographs for Houdini earlier that day. The account in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram gives a blow-by-blow:
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| Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Oct. 19, 1924. |
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| The Paterson Evening News, Nov. 13, 1924 |
Wednesday, October 9, 2024
Houdini's 2nd lecture tour began 100 years ago today
It was 100 years ago today on Oct. 9, 1924, that Houdini kicked off his second Spiritualism lecture tour at the Pine Street Church in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Houdini began his talk by telling the crowd that he had first been to Williamsport during his 1895 tour with the Welsh Bros. Circus and that he had never seen a town that had changed so much over the years.
Today, Williamsport commemorates both his appearances with a historical marker erected by Dorothy Dietrich and Dick Brookz in 2016.
Houdini's second spiritualism tour, now called "Can the Dead Speak To the Living?" took him on a 9000-mile cross-crossing route through Texas, Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho, California, Oregon, Washington, Illinois, Ohio, West Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and New York. His two combined tours covered almost 12,000 miles during this single year.
For this occasion, I've created an interactive Google map showing the complete route of Houdini's two tours (as far as I know them). If you're a member of my Patreon, you can start the journey by clicking below.
Thanks to my patrons for supporting content like this.
Friday, September 20, 2024
Houdini in South Bend
It's rare these days that I find a suspended straitjacket escape that I didn't already have on my list, but that's precisely what happened last week. A recent upload of the South Bend News-Times online revealed that Houdini hung from the News-Times building in South Bend, Indiana, on January 29, 1924.
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Want more? While this was Houdini's first (and last) appearance in South Bend as a headliner, he had performed in the city in his early days. Houdini told the story to a News-Times reporter. It's a charming, untold tale that I'm sharing as a History Exclusive on my Patreon below.
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| South Bend News-Times, Jan. 30, 1924 |
Why was this so hard to find? I've discovered many newspapers ignored a Houdini stunt if it was performed in conjunction with a rival paper. If that rival paper isn't archived online, it's like it never happened. How many more of these are waiting to be discovered, I wonder?
The News-Times building stood at 210 W. Colfax Avenue. Below is a photo of it as it appeared in Houdini's time. Today, the building is long gone.
Happily, the South Bend theater where Houdini appeared, The New Palace, survives today as The Morris Performing Arts Center. So we can add to the list of surviving Houdini theaters as well!
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Tuesday, September 17, 2024
Houdini hangs at Armoury D.E. in Dallas
This Houdini artwork by Clay Stinnett hangs in the Armoury D.E. in Dallas, Texas. Located in Dallas' historic Deep Ellum District, Armoury D.E. specializes in "eclectic Hungarian comfort foods," including Houdini's favorite Chicken Paprikás, and house cocktails with names like "Satan, Sex & No Regrets" and "Bela Lugosi's Dead." Sounds like my kind of place!
By the way, I have yet to discover an account of Houdini's second suspended straitjacket escape in Dallas. It's said to have occurred during the week of Oct. 29, 1923, from the 4th floor of the Dallas City Hall on Commerce Street. If someone wants to be a Dallas hero and discover this for me, I'll buy you a cocktail at Armoury D.E.!
Houdini visited Dallas three times. He played the Majestic Theater(s) in 1916 and 1923. On both occasions, he did a suspended straitjacket escape in the city. In 1924, he returned with his spiritualism lecture, which he gave at the Dallas State Fair.
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| Dallas Morning News, Jan. 18, 1916. |
By the way, I have yet to discover an account of Houdini's second suspended straitjacket escape in Dallas. It's said to have occurred during the week of Oct. 29, 1923, from the 4th floor of the Dallas City Hall on Commerce Street. If someone wants to be a Dallas hero and discover this for me, I'll buy you a cocktail at Armoury D.E.!
Thursday, August 22, 2024
Choices, choices...
On the evening of February 27, 1924, both Houdini and The 4 Marx Brothers were appearing in Cleveland, Ohio. Houdini was giving his spiritualism lecture at Engineers Hall while the Marx Brothers were appearing in their breakout hit, I'll Say She Is, at the Hanna Theatre.
I'd love to think Groucho worked up a special ad-lib about Houdini being down the street that night. Maybe something about chasing ghouls instead of girls? (Give me your best Groucho quip in the comments.)
I'll Say She Is was never made into a Marx Brothers film. In fact, for the longest time, precisely what the show contained wasn't well known. But the great Noah Diamond has a particular passion for I'll Say She Is, and he recreated the show from his own research. He also penned the excellent book, Gimme a Thrill: The Story of I'll Say She Is, The Lost Marx Brothers Musical and How It Was Found.
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| The Cleveland Plain Dealer, Feb. 27, 1924. |
I've covered Houdini's spiritualism lectures extensively, so let's talk about The Marx Brothers and I'll Say She Is. Like Houdini, the Marx Brothers began as vaudevillians. But in 1923, they decided to try their luck with a full evening musical comedy, I'll Say She Is. It made them superstars.
This wasn't the only time Houdini and I'll Say She Is played the same city. At the end of 1924, I'll Say She Is was at the Missouri Theater in Kansas City while Houdini was at the nearby Mainstreet Theater. And when I'll Say She Is settled in for its long run at the Casino Theatre in New York City, Houdini appeared at the New York Hippodrome during the show's final four weeks in early 1925.
The Marx Brothers followed up I'll Say She Is with The Coconuts in 1925. Once again, we find Houdini and the brothers playing New York City simultaneously. In fact, The Coconuts and Houdini's 3 Shows in One opened on Broadway within a week of each other. The Coconuts opened at the Lyric Theatre on Dec. 8, 1925, and Houdini opened at the 44th Street Theater on Dec. 14th.
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| New York Daily News, Dec. 7, 1925. |
I've always wondered if Houdini and Bess ever saw I'll Say She Is or The Coconuts. I would love to think that they did. Houdini and the Marx Brothers would eventually appear at the same charity event at the New York Polo Grounds in 1926, but that's another story.
Tuesday, July 23, 2024
100 years ago on Lime Street
Margery is a big part of the Houdini story, and I've shared many Margery-related posts over the years. Below are some links for you to enjoy at your leisure.
Want more? On my Patreon today, I've shared the complete Houdini vs. Margery timeline from 1924 to 1926. Patrons can also download a free PDF of Houdini's pamphlet exposing Margery's methods as this month's free reward.
Thursday, June 20, 2024
High-Class Vaudeville in D.C.
Below is an unusually detailed vaudeville playbill from the September 20, 1924, Washington Times. This is a great way to see what kinds of acts shared the stage with Houdini during any given week.
Related:
Here's an ad for the following week. As you can see, Belle Baker, who once disrupted Houdini's act, was the new headliner. Note the reminder at the bottom of the page that Houdini would be closing out his engagement that night.
While B.F. Keith's Theater is long gone, the building facade survives. This is especially nice as it was also the site of a suspended straitjacket escape (in 1922). Today, what would have been the entrance to the theater is the Old Ebbitt Grill.
Related:
Thursday, June 13, 2024
Houdini chases spooks in Charlottesville
The Daily Progress reported that both lectures were well attended. It said Houdini's "stereopticon pictures" (slide show) was "rather tiresome," but the remainder of the lecture was "very entertaining," with Houdini demonstrating how mediums produce paraffin hands and how spirits write messages on slates.
Houdini also escaped from his Milk Can and showed film of The Grim Game plane crash and his suspended straitjacket escape in St. Louis. This is the first account of Houdini showing films as part of his lecture that I've encountered. He may have been taking advantage of the fact that the Jefferson was also a fully equipped movie theater. In fact, both The Grim Game and Terror Island had played the Jefferson during their first runs.
Happily, the Jefferson Theater still stands in Charlottesville today. Restored in 2006, the theater is located at 110 East Main Street and is a popular live venue. The official website says the theater has hosted many famous performers, "ranging from Harry Houdini to The Three Stooges." I can't speak to the Stooges, but we know Houdini was here!
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Want more? You can access a collection of newspaper clippings related to Houdini's Charlottesville lectures as a Scholar member of my Patreon below.
Monday, May 6, 2024
Is the Margery Box still out there?
We are fast approaching the centenary of Houdini's famous seances with Mina Crandon, aka Margery, in Boston. During this high-stakes battle, Houdini built a special box to control the wily medium. He called it the "Margie Box."
Whatever happened to the Margery box? When I asked this question in 2012, Anna Thurlow, Mina Crandon's great-granddaughter, provided this intriguing answer:
"When I went to a Houdini Seance in Las Vegas (I think 1998?) I was told that someone living in Vegas had the box in a storage unit there. I tried the telephone number later but it was disconnected. Presumably, it still exists, and hopefully someone will bring it to light."
Well, it has now been over ten years, and there is still no sign of the Margery Box or any hint of this mysterious Las Vegas owner. Possibly, whoever talked to Anna was thinking of the overboard box owned by Dixie Dooley. Or if it was an oblique reference to David Copperfield, we know he doesn't have the Margery Box.
I do have my doubts. This was not a working prop, and its significance as a piece of magic history would not have been appreciated at the time of Houdini's death. So I think it would have likely been discarded. If the box ever did reappear, I think we might all be surprised at just how small it is.
But we can still hope! If, by any chance, the mystery owner is reading this, please get in touch. During this centennial year it would be amazing to bring the Margery box back into the light.
Saturday, May 4, 2024
Searching for Houdini in Columbus, Texas
This historical marker can be found at the Old Stafford Opera House in Columbus, Texas. It shows Houdini performed at the historic theater. But did he?
Unfortunately, I have no record of Houdini in Columbus, and I have a pretty complete listing of all the stops on his Texas tours of 1916, 1923, and 1924. However, there is still a possibility that he appeared at the Stafford due to a certain peculiarity of these tours.
The Texas-based Interstate Amusement Company, the circuit on which Houdini toured, would occasionally send a vaudeville troupe appearing in a major city to a smaller city for a single night's performance. These were mid-week appearances, the theaters would literally swap acts. Houdini appeared in Galveston and Corsicana this way. So could Columbus have been another one of these one-nighters?
I haven't found anything (yet), so I'm throwing this out to other research bloodhounds. If it helps, below are the dates of Houdini's Texas tours.
1916: Jan. 10 to Feb. 13
1923: Oct. 28 to Nov. 25
1924: Oct. 12 to Oct. 19 (spirit lectures)
It sure would be nice to put Harry in Columbus. The theater is a beauty!
Thanks to the Discover Columbus Texas Facebook page for the pics and Richard Hatch for sending me down this rabbit hole.
Thursday, May 2, 2024
A Magician Among the Spirits turns 100
Today marks the 100th Anniversary of Houdini's last book, A Magician Among the Spirits, published on May 2, 1924, by Harper & Brothers in New York.
On May 5, Houdini wrote to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle offering to send him a signed copy of the book. If Doyle ever responded, the letter has been lost. But one thing is for sure, the publication of A Magician Among the Spirits marked the end of their famous friendship.
Below is a positive review of the book from The Evening Sun.
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| The Evening Sun, June 28, 1924 |
And a less positive review from the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
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| Cleveland Plain Dealer, June 7, 1924 |
Shortly after publication, Houdini discovered an error in the book. The following appeared in several newspapers.
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| Hartford Courant, Aug. 10, 1924. |
On May 5, Houdini wrote to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle offering to send him a signed copy of the book. If Doyle ever responded, the letter has been lost. But one thing is for sure, the publication of A Magician Among the Spirits marked the end of their famous friendship.
A Magician Among the Spirits has been reprinted several times. The 1972 hardcover from Arno is typically the edition one finds in used bookstores. I've always had affection for this edition.
In 1996, Richard Kaufman and Alan Greenberg published Houdini's original typed manuscript with extensive hand corrections as a limited slipcased edition. It's a beauty and a wonderful tribute to Houdini's last book.
Want more? As a member of my Patreon, you can download a free PDF of A Magician Among the Spirits as this month's reward.
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